REDDITCH MP Karen Lumley has asked for a stop to be put on the borough’s local plan which at the moment would see 3,400 homes being built from Webheath to Bentley village in Bromsgrove district.
Mrs Lumley’s intervention, in line with the 2016 Planning Act, comes just days before the main modifications to the plan made by planning inspector Michael Hetherington and which endorse the building programme, go before a full council meeting of Redditch borough council on Monday (July 27).
The MP met with civil servants from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in London to register her concerns over the issue on Wednesday (July 20).
Mrs Lumley, together with Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid, now Secretary of State for DCLG, had previously written to Mr Hetherington expressing their opposition to the plan which would see some 3,400 new homes in Bromsgrove district stretching from Webheath up to Bentley, with approximately 2,800 going in at Foxlydiate and 600 at Brockhill.
“I have been saying for a long time now that Webheath is simply not the right place to build this number of houses, despite what the inspector says,” said Mrs Lumley.
“Due to the onset of the Redditch Eastern Gateway project, many of the employment opportunities that become available over the next few years will not be near Webheath where the infrastructure is inadequate in any case.
“Jobs will however be very accessible to the Bordesley area, and in my view that is where this enormous number of houses ought to be centred.
“Officials listened to my point of view. They are now going to fully examine the issues involved before putting the arguments before a Government Minister.”
The plan, known as Redditch’s Local Plan No. 4 (BORLP4) will provides a framework for future development in Redditch over the next 15 years.
The plan will also be going out for public consultation until mid-September.
